


Eastside

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Best Friends, Fluff, Gen, Kind of AU, M/M, They're still in the same universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 12:55:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17386847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: This a story suggested by @2windowpanes where Lance and Keith met earlier in their lives and didn’t realise who they were until they did a mind meld exercise. They only knew each other as Akira and Leandro.





	Eastside

They met one year at summer camp. They had a crush on the same guy and caught each other staring at him. At first, they fought for his attention and fought each other in the process. When they both realized that he was dumb as a stick and didn’t realize they were both crushing on him, they became best friends.

Their names were Akira and Leandro. 

* * *

Usually, Leandro had no problem with getting along with people, no matter what but when he saw another boy looking at Dillon (the boy he had a crush on), he wouldn’t stand for it. He ended up calling the boy out behind the meal hall right after dinner.

“Stop looking at Dillon,” he said, crossing his arms trying to come off as threatening in some way. Surprisingly (at least to him), the boy just raised his eyebrow at him.

“No,”

“W-what!!? Why!?” He demanded.

“Because I like Dillon too!”

“So, stop liking him!”

“No!”

“Fine! I guess I’ll just have to get him to like me first!”

“Good luck with that!”

“You too!” With that Leandro, turned and stomped away, shoulders tense. Akira looked after him, his eyes narrowed.

And so their rivalry began. They were constantly working against each other, whether it be by bringing Dillon gifts or demanding their attention, or damaging each other’s chances in some way. One day, Leandro would shove a bug down the back of Akira’s shirt, making him hop around the camp, shrieking as he tried to get it off. Another, Akira would sneak under the table and tie Leandro’s shoelaces together.

Was it juvenile? Yes.

Did it work three times? Also yes.

In the grand scope of things, it wasn’t a very sophisticated “prank war” by any means but the word of their “battle” spread across the camp and it became something to look forward to. Almost everybody knew about the war and who it was about, except for one person;

Dillon.

Now, people would look at this situation and think Dillon is dumb as a stump and you’re absolutely right. He was, but they didn’t see it that way, in fact, they saw it as kind of adorable that he was so innocent. At first at least. Then one day after a wilderness survival session, they sat with Dillon as he studied the small map they were given.

“Is the blue part, water or the sky?” He asked, pointing at the coloured parts of the map. The rose coloured glasses over both of their eyes shattered. As candidates for the Galaxy Garrison and prodigy students, there’s only so much they can take.

“Uuhhh, yeah, sorry Dillon, we gotta go,” Leandro said, pulling Akira up and bolting away.

Thankfully all of this happened in the first few weeks of the summer and for the rest of it, they spent together. Honestly, if they had to describe it, it was every summer teen movie filmed by Disney ever. You know, the typical enemies become friends and save the day or whatever. They never had a final boss battle but you get the point. Unless you count when their parents came to get them.

The night before they left, they snuck out of their cabin and to the fire pit. With the fire extinguished and the light from the camp almost completely blacked out, they could see the stars stretching across the entire sky.

“Wow, the whole summer passed and there wasn’t a single, other cute guy,” Leandro mused.

“If this is any inclination to the rest of my life, I’m gonna be disappointed,” Akira agreed, chuckling.

“What about Dylan, he’s kind of cute,” Akira suggested.

“Ehh, he’s okay I guess but man I thought this was gonna be my summer for romance,”  he sat up quickly before sighing. “What am I even talking about? No one would want to date me anyway,” Leandro huffed, pressing his face into his knees.

“What’d you mean?” Akira asked with concern. So far this summer, he hadn’t shown this side to Akira. He was usually confident in himself and in turn boosted Akira’s confidence.

“Dude, just look at my face, no guy would ever ask me out,” he peeked back at Akira.

“Well, at least you’ve got perfect teeth,” he shot back crossing his arms and lifting his lip to flash metal lined teeth at him.

“The braces are gonna come off eventually, my skin is gonna look like this forever!” Leandro whined.

“You’re being dramatic Leandro,”

“Obviously!”

“Come on, we’re only fourteen, we’ve got forever to find boyfriends!”

“When have you been this upbeat?” Leandro said with mock suspicion.  

“Since I saw my best friend upset,” He scoffed, crossing his arms triumphantly.

“Man, why can’t I have friends like you at home?” Leandro sighed, laying back and looking at the stars.

“Because I’m irreplaceable,” Akira teased, laying beside Leandro.

“True,” he sighed. “I’m gonna miss you Akira,” he said quietly after a beat.

“Me too,” he sighed, looking over at Leandro.

“Promise you’ll come back next summer?” Leandro asked, his eyes suspiciously glassy. He held out his pinky, Akira sniffed and nodded his head latching his pinky to his.

“Pinky promise,”

* * *

“You’re not going back this summer,” his mama informed him as she pulled out his suitcase from the closet.

He’d just gotten off school for the summer break and brought the camp application to his mother to sign so he could back. He couldn’t wait to see Akira again and catch up. Unfortunately, his mama had other plans.

“What!?” Lance cried, his eyes wide. “Why not!?”

“We’re going to Cuba for the summer,” she said shortly, handing the case off to her son. Normally Lance would be excited to be spending his summer away from home but he’d been waiting for camp the entire year. He’d even been counting down on his calendar.

“But-but, I want to go back!” He cried, desperately. “I promised Akira!”

“Akira?” She questioned in confusion. “Was that the boy you hung out with last year?”

“Yeah, and I promised that I’d be there this year,”

For a second, there was a look of sympathy on her face before she sighed and rubbed her hand down her face.

“I was going to tell everyone together but your grandmother is sick and the doctors don’t think she’s going to make it through the summer,”

“What?” The colour drained from his face and shock overtook his senses. He felt arms wrap around him and he sank into the comfort, he didn’t even realize that he was sobbing. While he looked out the window of the plane, he hoped that Akira would forgive him for breaking their promise and more than anything wished that they would meet again someday.

* * *

The first time Lance saw Keith, he didn’t know what he was feeling. It was a weird mix of familiarity, but also competitiveness? In simple terms, it was confusing as hell and he didn’t know what it meant. When he found out who he was, he thought he figured it out. Keith Kogane: one of the most talented pilots of their generation, almost as great as Takashi Shirogane, or so everyone was saying. So he chalked it up to him wanting to compete with Keith, prove who was the better pilot.

“Dude, why are you always staring at Keith?” Hunk asked one day, while they were eating in the mess hall. Lance chewed thoughtfully for a second, still burning holes in the side of Keith’s head.

“I don’t know… I’m pretty sure I hate him?” He questioned with a tilt of his head.

“You don’t know?” Hunk deadpanned. Lance hummed and shrugged.

He really didn’t know, but nothing else made sense.

* * *

He thought that maybe that weird feeling would go away after a week or two in Voltron. Team bonding and all that, but it just kept getting stronger. To be perfectly honest, it was interfering in their team dynamic and everyone was starting to notice. Surprisingly, Keith was acting strange around him as well. At times he would look around and catch Keith just staring at him with narrowed eyes. At first, he thought he was glaring at him but then he’d tilt his head as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

Allura and Shiro finally had enough of their behaviour and she and Coran organized a second bonding session with the mind meld headbands. But this time they weren’t trying to form Voltron, they were just trying to get to know one another.

They sat in their circle thinking of happy memories or things that would help their teammates know more about them. Things were going smoothly until for just a second Lance thought of Akira. Keith gasped, his mind suddenly racing with thoughts. He pulled the headband off and dropped it on the floor. The others pulled their’s off as soon as they lost Keith’s connection and watched him with concern.

“Keith?” Shiro reached out to grab his shoulder but Keith was too busy studying Lance, who had narrowed his eyes at him.

“What’s with you?” Keith’s eyes widened.

“No. Fucking. Way… Leandro?” Keith asked, staring across the semi-circle to Lance. His mouth dropped open in shock. There was only one person his age who knew that name.

“Akira?”

There was a beat of silence before they both jumped up and leapt at each other with excited shrieks of “HOLY SHIT!” They collided in a hug and started squeezing the life out of the other.

“Man, you had some glow up,” Lance whistled, pulling his bottom lip down. “Look at those beautiful teeth!” He whistled.

“Me!? Look at you! I’ve never seen clearer skin!” Keith said, with a wide grin, reaching out to pinch Lance’s cheek.

“Wait. You guys knew each other?” Pidge deadpanned, pointing between them.

“Yeah! Oh my god, it’s been so long!” Lance laughed, hugging Keith again. “We have to catch up, we’re doing a spa night right now!” He cheered dragging a smiling Keith out of the training room.

“Wait! How do you know each other!?” Hunk yelled.

“Later! We’re having a best friend night!” Lance laughed back.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you’re wondering why they didn’t recognize each other:
> 
> Keith has braces, his hair is short, and he has glasses.
> 
> Lance has pretty bad acne (why he’s so careful with his skin now), glasses, and he was really short.


End file.
